Centralia Pennsylvania: The unforgettable fire

by Michael on May 28, 2012

Thomas Wolfe said you can’t go home again. But what if you can’t go home again because it no longer exists? Centralia Pennsylvania used to have a Norman Rockwell atmosphere: Little League games, Memorial Day parades and neighbors looking out for neighbors. But now it no longer officially exists.

At one time Pennsylvania was the Saudi Arabia of coal, particularly anthracite coal, the best in the world. The mines produced jobs and formed the focus of civil life. The great wealth that was created over a century ago is still visible in rows of crumbling mansions and massive granite courthouses.

The coal starts burning

Until 1962, Centralia was a typical mining town in Pennsylvania. That is until one day a fire started in a trash pit. This being coal country, coal seams run near the surface. Eventually the trash fire lit a seam and the huge wealth of anthracite under Centralia caught fire. What is coal’s great underlying purpose? It burns readily and it burns fiercely hot.

Centralia before the fire.

Centralia today.

At first the people of Centralia didn’t realize the gravity of their situation. They made a few attempts to put out the fire but burning coal is not easily extinguished. Gradually over the next two decades the fire burned closer to town until it was literally burning right underneath their noses. Gases from the fire leached into basements and steam vents had to be installed in yards.

Heat from the fire can be felt through thick-soled shoes.

On Valentine’s Day in 1981, a young boy fell into a sinkhole created by the fire. If he hadn’t grabbed hold of a tree root he would have been incinerated. At this point the townspeople realized the impending danger from the fire below. Within two years a plan was implemented to remove the remaining residents.

Centralia becomes a ghost town

Today there are about five occupied houses in Centralia. The houses that remain are rowhomes, a style of architecture that depends on the structural support of neighboring homes to stay upright; without their neighbors they would collapse. As the residents die off or move out, their houses are demolished. In order to remain standing, the homes left behind need brick structures reminiscent of the buttresses on a medieval cathedral to avoid falling down. They have lost the support of their neighbors; both morally and physically.

Since neighboring houses were torn down, extra brick supports had to be added to the remaining rowhouses.

The fire still burns

The cracked road leading into town.

If rust never sleeps, fire never stops raging. The setting resembles a scene more like Dante’s Inferno than the surrounding bucolic countryside. The unrelenting gray pallor makes it look the surface of the moon with burned out trees. The trees wilt from the massive heat reaching their roots, much like the town itself they are dying from within.

A lone church is one of the few remaining structures.

I placed my hand on the ground and felt the heat coming up from within. The sulphurous air is a constant reminder of the poisonous atmosphere. As the fire finds new seams it is gradually eating away at what remains of the town. It has now reached the edge of the old Russian cemetery. The burial site of generations of miners and their families is now in danger; as if the fire is not content to only chase out the living but must also disturb the dead.

A piece of Centralia survives the fire

There is one poignant reminder of what once was in Centralia and what might have been. In front of the abandoned Veteran’s Memorial a white marble slab is embedded in the ground. It marks the site of a time capsule that was buried in 1966 to celebrate the town’s centennial. It is due to be opened in 2016. When the capsule was buried the fire was only a few years old and considered a minor nuisance. When they were choosing items typical of that era to bury, who could have known that they would soon be burying the town itself?

The time capsule was opened ahead of schedule in October, 2014. Much of the contents inside were destroyed from flooding.

As to Detroit, it’s been getting a bit of tourism from people who are interesting in seeing abandoned manufacturing sites. Although we hear it is also becoming a destination for the arts community due to low rents and available buildings. Hopefully Detroit will be picking up soon. I’d love to go there someday.

Centralia is not a all like Silent Hill! But it is great fodder for a real story. I wrote a novel, Centralia PA, Devils Fire (Amazon) that depicts with historical accuracy the history of Centralia and combines the fantasy of demons in the mines (metaphorical representations of the mining companies and mine owners.) Much better tale than Silent Hill… There are a couple of new documentaries out and coming out on the town and
also a few new historical books written by local authors that are worth looking at. More information on my book is at http://www.centraliapadevilsfire.com/. The time capsule sadly had to be opened prematurely in October, 2014, due to damage by vandals.

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About Us

From Larissa & Michael: In 2011 we sold everything and took off from Philadelphia for what we thought would be a year-long journey around the world with a Rocky statue. After embracing a much simpler lifestyle, we're still on the road.

We've traveled to six continents, visiting an array of countries from France to Australia to North Korea and beyond. We travel slowly, staying in apartments and immersing ourselves in the local culture. As global nomads with no fixed address, we now call the world our home.

Along the way we became full-time travel writers and chronicle our experiences for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Huffington Post and other media outlets.